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"Environmental Well Inspections Falling Short, GAO Says"

"Environmental inspections of oil and gas facilities on public lands have jumped nearly twofold since 2007, but federal investigators said Monday that the government is doing a poor job of targeting the riskiest sites."

"Airlines urge UN to back deal to curb emissionsIn a new report, the Government Accountability Office faulted the Bureau of Land Management for not including information about the environmental inspection history of many wells in its central database for tracking oil and gas facilities on public lands.

As a result, the inspection prioritization process 'does not have sufficient information to ensure that wells receiving inspections are those that pose the greatest environmental risk,' said the GAO, Congress’ investigative arm. Other problems include 'inconsistent documentation of inspections and enforcement actions and challenges with retaining and hiring environmental staff in some offices.'"